Mercy Health celebrated its grand opening of the Woi-wurrung-yagila-wulumperi Whittlesea Early Parenting Centre on Wednesday – a service will help assist families navigate parenting.
Delivered in partnership with the Department of Health, Victorian Health Building Authority and Mercy Health, the centre is a public service that offers specialised support to children up to four-years-old, with day-stay and longer residential day programs.
The centre is one of three early parenting centres in Victoria, under the State Government’s $148 million investment to expand and upgrade the early parenting service network.
Located in South Morang, each week up to 10 families are admitted to a suite with a parent’s bedroom, child’s bedroom, ensuite and balcony under 24-hour care, while the day-stay program is a communal setting with shared bathrooms, dining and a play centre.
Families can access the programs through either referral from health professionals or themselves, and will be sent home with a discharge plan that will connect families with their community supports such as maternal and child health nurses or general practitioners for ongoing care.
Whittlesea Early Parenting Centre acting manager and director of nursing Anna Seaborn said it was phenomenal to watch the vision come to life, with four families using the day-stay program last week.
“There was an enormous build, lots of work has gone into getting the building to look like it is and to get the things in the building – beds, cots, baby monitors, organising our food licence – but the most exciting thing was the families coming in for the first day stay program,” she said.
“It was just the most spectacular feeling of this is what we’re here for, this is what we’re here to do, this is what all this work has been about to support parents on their parenting journey with whatever challenges they are facing.
“Those challenges can be around sleep and settling, they can be around managing more than one little person, they can be about toddler behaviour, they can also be about managing your own health and wellbeing and finding challenges in that space.”
Ms Seaborn said the staff were on board to accompany parents who might need strategies.
“The care we provide is not imposed on anyone – it’s in partnership so the family will tell us what they’ve come here today for and we’ll work with them using the tools that we know work,” she said.
“We use responsive parenting, responsive settling, response feeding – so it’s observing the little person’s cues, really tuning into what they’re trying to tell us through their verbal and body language and then guiding parents to read those cues.
“The staff here are genuinely dedicated health professionals who care deeply about making a difference in these families lives, they genuinely want the family to go home, feeling better, managing better and achieving the goal that they came here with.”
Complementing the service, Aboriginal artist Tommy Day III painted most of the centre’s interior and exterior, which will soon be finished.
Ms Seaborn said the paintings of the butterflies and possums throughout the centre symbolised the journey of parenting and harmony.
Whittlesea Early Parenting Centre is located at 34 Anchorage Drive at South Morang.
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